Oh, the Horror
by lifeconnoisseur
Summary: Lucy and Levy were supposed to be going to the premiere of a book-to-movie adaptation. However, things never seem to go as planned, do they? Nalu and minor Gajevy.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** Yo! So, I haven't had much time to write lately due to end of the school year projects and finals(and planning for Nalu week), but I was finally able to write a thing, hence this fic! Hope you enjoy! Oh, and I don't own Fairy Tail.

* * *

"Girl, the movie will be over by the time it takes you to get out the door. Hurry up."

Lucy rolled her eyes as she slipped on her boots.

"Levy, we still have an hour before it starts, calm down." She replied to her best friend, who was standing in front of the entrance to her apartment, tapping her foot with her hands on her hips. She resisted the urge to roll her eyes again at the sight of it. Lucy loved her, but it sometimes drove her crazy how much of a drama queen Levy was.

"We've been raving about this movie coming out for months!"

It was true. Ever since the duo learned of their favorite book being adapted into a movie, it was pretty much all they could talk about. But did the premiere really have to be at 11:45pm? Lucy always considered herself more of a night person, but it just wasn't a natural time to go out to see a movie. Nevertheless, after she had her boots on and purse on her shoulder, Lucy let herself be dragged out the door by a certain eager blunette.

It didn't take long to arrive at the theater, considering it was only a few blocks away. One of the perks of living in the middle of town. As soon as they entered, Levy raced to the ticket counter. By the time Lucy made her way next to her, Levy had a solemn expression on her face.

"What?"

"It's sold out."

No way. Lucy knew they should have preordered tickets online. In fact, she had insisted they do so to Levy, who merely replied that she hated shopping online. She was about to respond when she noticed Levy's gaze was no longer on her, but somewhere over her shoulder. Lucy turned just in time to see a tall head of unruly black hair disappear from the lobby to the hall leading to the theaters. Levy had already whirled back to the ticket counter before Lucy could ask her about it.

"What other movies are playing?" Levy asked the lady behind the counter. Lucy scanned the list of movies and found that the only other one with a time similar to the movie they were planning on seeing was a horror. The ticket lady confirmed it.

When Levy turned to her with hopeful eyes, Lucy shook her head. "Levy no. You know I loathe horrors."

She continued to look up at Lucy with puppy-dog eyes. "Come on, Lu-chan! Live a little. I was really in the mood to see a movie, so what if it happens to be horror? Besides, we came all the way here."

"We walked three and a half blocks."

"Well… yes. But you took the time to get dressed and do your hair and makeup. Do you really want that to go to waste?" Levy countered.

Lucy had to admit that the girl had a point. And if Levy had the nerve to beg like this—seriously, she was fluttering her eyelashes and everything—then she must have really liked whoever it was Lucy caught her staring at.

With a resigned sigh, Lucy nodded. "Fine, but you owe me."

"You're the best!" Levy squealed, tackling her in a bear hug. After she caught her breath, they paid for their tickets and bought snacks. The two hesitated at the entrance for a few moments as Lucy waited for Levy to seek out the man. It didn't take long, what with him being the tallest in the room. Out of the corner of her eye, Lucy saw her friend's face light up for a split second before making her way to his row. She followed, even if feeling somewhat awkward about it. But Lucy would have her friend's back just like she knew Levy would have hers if their roles were reversed.

So Lucy didn't protest when Levy asked the man if they could sit there, or when they sat down after he grunted a response. She slid down in her seat, worrying her thumbnail and trying not to think about her impending doom.

It wasn't a secret that Lucy was easily scared, and it didn't make it any better that she had no idea what this movie was about, thus having no idea what she was in for. She may as well have been a blind person walking into a haunted house. She supposed that if push came to shove, she could always just leave the theater with the excuse of having to use the bathroom. But then again she didn't want to be that person that disrupted the middle of the movie to use the bathroom. And Mavis knew that she had a scarce amount of money, so she might as well watch what she paid for… no matter how bad the nightmares might be after.

Lucy was so caught up in her thoughts that she didn't notice that the man that held her best friend's interest had come with a friend, or that said friend muttered something to the man about food before exiting the theater. She may have noticed when he sat down next to her, arms full of popcorn, nachos, boxes of candy, and a drink, except she had her face in her hands, trying not to scream in frustration at how utterly pathetic she was. Only when he spoke did she realize his presence…

"Yo."

…and jump so high she almost fell out of her seat. Lucy felt her cheeks heat up and tried not to face palm. The movie hadn't even started yet and she was already jumping at scares. She must have said this aloud, because the stranger that had spoken to her started to laugh.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare ya," he told her with his hands in the air, as if to emphasize his innocence. How he managed to do that without spilling the abundance of food on his lap was beyond her. Then his expression changed to a sympathetic grin. "Your friend dragged you here too, huh?" She nodded. "I'm more of an action-adventure guy, but Metal Face insisted." He continued, lacing his hands behind his head. She assumed "Metal Face" was the man Levy was currently chatting up.

Lucy's face lit up. "I love action-adventures!" she exclaimed. He beamed at her. Lucy couldn't help but notice that he smiled with his whole face, and that it was contagious.

"I'm Natsu."

"Lucy."

They shook hands and it didn't go unnoticed by her that Natsu held on to her hand a few seconds longer than was probably necessary. Not that she was complaining. The two talked about inconsiderate friends and other random things that came to mind and sooner than Lucy would have liked, the lights dimmed.

Natsu must have seen her tense, because he took her hand in his. "Don't worry," he whispered when she looked over at him. "I've seen this movie before, and it's actually pretty funny. And by funny, I mean the characters are morons and the villain is so unbelievable that it's practically a joke." His smile faltered when she gave him a skeptical look. "But if you get scared, you can hold onto me for comfort if it makes you feel better."

Had anyone else told her this, she would have assumed they were hitting on her. However, his tone and serious look in his eyes told her that he was sincere. And even though she just met him, she had a feeling that he wasn't that type of guy. So she nodded and felt herself relax.

It turned out that Natsu wasn't just trying to make her feel better when he said the movie was practically a joke, because Lucy found herself frequently wincing in second-hand embarrassment at the decisions of the characters. Seriously, why would you hide in the shed when there was a conveniently placed car right there with the keys lying on the ground next to it? And she had seen stray cats scarier than the villain.

Sooner than she had expected, the movie was over. Lucy first blinked at the credits scrolling down the screen, then down at her right hand when she realized that Natsu hadn't once let go of her hand throughout the two-hour movie.

"Ready to go?" Levy asked. Lucy hadn't realized how tired she was until she was yawning and stretching in her seat to wake up her muscles.

"Yup, whenever you are." She replied. Levy maneuvered around legs still in chairs and other people getting ready to leave until she was in the aisle leading out the door. Lucy was about to follow when a hand took her arm. A hand that belonged to Natsu. "You can go on ahead; I'll meet you in the lobby." She called to Levy, who gave her a smug once-over and a knowing look at the hand still on her arm, but shrugged and walked out anyway.

Lucy looked at Natsu questioningly. He just grinned up at her.

"What is it?" She asked.

"I don't have your number."

She stared for a second before chuckling at his blunt statement.

"No, I don't believe you do. We should probably change that, shouldn't we?" She replied, holding out her hand for his phone so that she could add her number.

"You free tomorrow?" He asked after she returned his cell.

"Yep."

"Lunch good?"

"Sounds great."

"That Italian place across the street?"

"It's my favorite."

"Pick you up at noon?"

"It's a date."

"I'll text you." He said before she waved and left the theater.

Lucy was sure she had the dumbest grin on her face when she met Levy near the front entrance. To Levy's credit, though, she only said one thing. "You still loathe horrors?"

Lucy replied with a shake of her head before the two pushed open the doors and stepped into the night. No, she most definitely no longer loathed horrors.

* * *

 **A/N:** Thanks for reading! Sorry if Levy seemed a bit OOC; I was just in the mood for a feisty Levy. I hope we can all agree that Feisty Levy is Best Levy.

Oh, and I might make this into a two-shot, so please let me know if you would be interested in another chapter.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:** It took forever, but the second chapter is finally here! Better late than never, right? Thanks so much to everyone who reviewed, it really means a lot to me! I hope you like this as much as the last one! Also, I still don't own Fairy Tail.

* * *

Lucy woke not to the usual squeal of her alarm, but instead to the shaking of an earthquake as she fell from her bed with a loud _thump_. At least, she had thought it was an earthquake, until she opened her eyes and saw Levy, who had been jumping on the foot of her bed.

"Ow, what the hell, Levy?" Lucy groggily shouted at her deceptively petite friend. Levy returned a glare as she sank down into a cross-legged position on the bed.

"It's 11:28am." Was all she said, as if that would explain everything.

Lucy raised a brow as she rubbed her left hip, which had taken the brunt of the fall. "And that makes it okay for you to break into my apartment and jump on my bed while I'm still sleeping in it?" She winced when her hand made contact with a particularly sore spot that she had no doubts would end up leaving a bruise.

Levy sighed and ran a hand down her face in exasperation. "First of all, I have a spare key that you _gave me_ so I did not 'break into'," she stuck up her hands and made air quotes at that, "your apartment. Second, it's not my fault you're such a heavy sleeper. To wake you up it was either that or dumping a bucket of ice water over you. Third…" Levy paused and scanned Lucy's face, as if searching for something. She was met only with a blank look of confusion and irritation. "You really don't remember, do you?" She groaned, face in her hands.

"Remember what?" Lucy demanded with growing impatience.

Levy looked down at her, brown eyes piercing brown eyes. "Natsu and Gajeel will be picking us up for our double date in a half hour." She deadpanned.

Lucy's eyes widened and a shiver ran down her back as the words sank in and the events of the previous night came back to her. Lucy cursed and shot up from the floor. Only she would nearly sleep in and miss a first date. Talk about a bad first impression. In her defense, she was awake until nearly 3am because of the movie Levy made her watch the night before.

"Well don't just sit there!" She all but shrieked. "Help me get ready!"

Levy merely rolled her eyes and nonchalantly slipped to the ground.

Twenty minutes later, Lucy was dressed in a white tank with little yellow stars printed all over, a skirt, and her usual knee-length boots. Levy had brushed and tied her hair into a ponytail while Lucy applied a light layer of makeup to her face. Now they were done and with ten minutes to spare.

Lucy hadn't worried about eating due to the fact that their date was at a nearby Italian restaurant. No, that was wrong. It wasn't so much an Italian restaurant than it was a cheap pizza place that Lucy frequently ordered from when she had nothing better to eat and was too lazy to head out. Nevertheless, Lucy couldn't and wouldn't have chosen another place to spend their date as it was her favorite place to eat.

The two girls talked about books and whatever else came to mind until there was a knock at the door. They got up to meet the boys. Lucy swung her purse over her shoulder and opened the door. She, along with Levy froze. It was their dates—who were wrestling on the floor in a blur of pink and black. Lucy and Levy exchanged a look. They had a feeling it was going to be a long day.

Lucy cleared her throat. They immediately sprang apart and jumped up from the floor, though they were still glaring at each other. The four of them stood there awkwardly for a moment before Natsu turned to her with a grin. "C'mon, Luce, let's go!" With that, he promptly grabbed her arm and took off.

Behind them, Lucy heard a deep, gravelly voice call, "Oi Salamander! Wait up, ya dumbass!"

She frowned as Natsu pulled her along. "Did Gajeel call you 'Salamander'?" She asked.

"Yep."

"Do I want to know?"

"Nope."

She forced him to a stop after they exited the apartment building. Moments later, the brute called Gajeel emerged glaring daggers with her friend flung over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. Lucy felt bad for Levy, who was kicking her legs and pounding her fists into his back, demanding him to let her down. He did, with a roll of his eyes.

Levy crossed her arms and made her way next to Lucy. The girls looked at the boys expectantly.

"Well?" Levy pressed.

"Well what?" Natsu asked, looking lost.

"Where did you park your car?" Lucy said.

At the mention of car, Natsu's face turned a sickly shade of green and he clutched his stomach. Even Gajeel paled slightly.

"We're not taking a car." Gajeel rumbled. "Neither of us can handle transportation."

The girls looked at each other and had a silent conversation. Both were a little hesitant to have to walk, even though the pizza place wasn't that far. In the end, they took pity on the boys and agreed to walk.

"Okay," Levy shrugged, "let's go, then. I'm starving."

Immediately upon being seated, the four were bombarded with questions and excitement from the waitress, Mirajane. Lucy could practically see the stars in her blue eyes.

"How exciting, a double date! What are the odds that all of my favorite ships would come here for a date on the same day? First it was my brother and his girlfriend, Evergreen. Then Erza and Jellal, and then Gray and Juvia! And now this! Has Christmas come early?"

"Mira-san, how about you ask us what we want to drink?" Lucy interrupted before the woman completely forgot they were there.

Mira blinked. "Oh, sorry Lucy. What would you all like to drink?"

They ordered their drinks, and when it was time to order the food, Lucy couldn't help but gape at Natsu, who was sitting across from her. He had ordered three large pizzas with extra pepperoni. At first, she had thought he was ordering for the both of them. But then he turned to her and asked her what she wanted. Lucy was startled, to say the least. Yes, she recalled the surplus of food he bought and ate at the theatre the other day, but still. She shook her head and ordered a large with extra cheese.

The food arrived pleasantly quick and they dug in. Despite how hungry she was, Natsu finished his meal before Lucy was half way through hers. Even Gajeel, seated to her right (they didn't dare seat the boys next to each other, because then there would be nothing stopping them from fighting, which the girls found out quickly that they did all the time) was done with his food and was giving her a rather uncomfortable stare as she finished off her fourth slice.

Finally, she met his gaze and raised a brow. He just nodded his head in the direction of the remainder of the pizza. "You gonna eat that?" Was all he said. Lucy shook her head and let Gajeel shove the cheese pizza in his mouth. She rolled her eyes. Boys.

Lucy talked with Natsu and Levy with Gajeel until the boys grew impatient with just sitting there and chatting. So they left in favor of walking through the market and shopping. On their way out, Lucy chose to ignore Mirajane. By the sound of it she, along with her little sister, Lisanna, were squealing happily and planning out their weddings, which led to an argument over who got to be the maid of honor.

It took a lot of begging, but the girls were finally able to convince Natsu and Gajeel to go to the bookshop. An armful of books purchased each later, they were walking through the streets again. It was then that they stumbled upon the carnival that was held every summer. The boys refused to ride any of the rides, so they focused on the games.

The four made their way through the carnival, challenging each other at various games. They bought candy apples and cotton candy which Lucy hadn't had in years. She almost had a heart attack when Natsu stopped abruptly with wide eyes. She turned to Levy and her date to find that Gajeel had done the same.

"Natsu? What's wrong, Natsu?" She asked, hand on his shoulder.

"I need it."

She followed his gaze to where the prizes to a nearby carnival game were hanging. Lucy didn't exactly see what was so special about them. They were stuffed cats with wings on their back.

"I call the black one that looks like a panther!" Gajeel shouted suddenly.

"I don't care, the blue one is mine!" Natsu yelled back.

"Bet I'll win mine before you win yours." Gajeel challenged.

"Bet you can't!"

With that, both of them raced forward. The game looked simple enough. It had three separate booths and it was a type of memory game. There were five cups, a marble under each one. Four of them were red and one of them was blue. The goal was to keep track of the cup that had the blue marble as the cups were mixed up.

Lucy and Levy watched, neither really wanting to play the game, but instead decided to cheer on their date. However, as time went on, neither being able to pick the right cup, the girls grew exasperated. They watched as a little girl with blue hair pull another girl with pink pigtails over to the third stall.

"This game looks like fun! Come on, Chelia!"

"I'm coming, I'm coming."

Then they watched as the little girl got it right the first time and skipped jovially away, clutching her prize to her chest. "I'll call her Charle." They heard her say.

Not a minute later was when two guys about their age made their way over. One of them who had black hair and a scar across his nose gasped. "Sting, move." He said. "I gotta do this." Then he, too, won the game on the first try and claimed a green cat that was for some reason in a pink frog costume. He beamed at it while his friend Sting tried it and won a red cat that he named Lector.

Levy and Lucy exchanged looks and were about to suggest that they come back again another day when victorious shouts emerged from both boys. They finally won. Then they proceeded to argue about who had won first. Before things could escalate, Levy shouted, "Ooh, look! Fireworks!" She pointed up, where the fireworks were starting against the recently darkened sky.

The four watched in fascination for a few moments before Lucy started to yawn. She turned to Natsu. "Wanna head back to my apartment and watch scary movies on Netflix?"

He looked at her and grinned. "I like your style." Lucy smiled and winked.

"Race you to the end of the carnival!" She shouted suddenly and took off. It wasn't a minute later when he caught up and scooped her into his arms bridal-style.

"Hey!" Lucy yelled. "Put me down!" But the mischievous grin on his face only widened and he ran faster. Eventually she stopped protesting and they were back at her apartment.

She decided to let Natsu pick the movie out while she changed into something more comfortable (i.e., her pajamas). When she returned to the living room, not only had he picked out a movie, but it seemed he had raided her kitchen. Popcorn and other snacks as well as two glasses of soda were laid out on her coffee table. Normally, she would have been furious that someone took out food without permission, but for some reason she wasn't mad. Lucy only chuckled as she settled onto the couch next to Natsu, who was holding the blue cat he won that he named Happy.

As the movie started, Lucy had to admit that this was immensely better than standing around in the middle of the crowded streets watching repetitive explosions in the sky. Little did she know that it would be the first of countless weekly scary movie nights that would eventually become tradition. She wouldn't have it any other way.


End file.
